


What if

by TheFirstSeed



Category: Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, Naruto
Genre: Alterative Universe - Sasuke Doesn't leave the village, F/M, Fluffy, Genin Era, Genin Sasuke/Sakura, Sasuke/Sakura Centric, Started writing this after looking at fanart, What Have I Done, What might've happened, what if
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-24
Updated: 2020-11-25
Packaged: 2021-03-10 02:55:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,472
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27696589
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheFirstSeed/pseuds/TheFirstSeed
Summary: This time she wouldn't. "Please Sasuke. I can't lose you" she asks. No, she is begging him. The wetness of his shirt and neck, the way her voice breaks he knows it. "You need to go back to bed Sakura," He asks. He tries again with less effort. "No Sasuke. Not unless you're coming home with me" for the first time in a while her voice is firm. Unchanging.Just maybe ... she could give him a better life. Together.
Relationships: Haruno Sakura/Uchiha Sasuke
Comments: 3
Kudos: 63





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> After seeing this fanart (https://sasusaku-lovers.tumblr.com/image/100947254727) it sparked yet another series for me to start writing. I haven't really found fics with Sasuke staying so I'm going to have a go at what might have happened if Sasuke stayed.

His footsteps echoed down the isolated path. One by one, as he walked with broken confidence in his decision. Regardless of how he looked at this, it was important. He had to do it. There wasn't a choice. The words replayed in his head, there wasn't a choice he had to remind himself. Sever the bonds, then it won't hurt. He won't feel guilty. He won't be distracted. He won't be weakened. No one will be hurt any longer by this.

In the distance, he heard steps. Who the hell would be out at this time. Sasuke closed his eyes letting himself focus on the steps. They were light, calculated. They had to be from a ninja. Not one as talented as Kakashi- Sakura. His eyes shot open catching the red of her dress as she came into view. Those were steps Sasuke was far too familiar with. He hated to admit how comforting those steps had become over their time as Genin, how he would wait on the bridge in the morning listening for those steps. He would hear her approach so calmly with a spark to each step as she would try to quell her excitement. 

Sakura was too innocent for this. Too damn innocent but damn it if she also wasn't the most perceptive and intelligent person he knew. Sure Shikamaru could have come up with a thousand strategies on the spot but he wasn't like Sakura. Sakura would remember everything you told her. She would look at the fine details. She knew their strengths and weakness as a team, how to combine their talents and how to decipher the message. So of all the people to be here tonight. Of course, it would be her.

She was the last person he wanted to meet here.

Naruto and he would bicker and argue. They would fight and cause a scene. Kakashi would find a way to drag his ass back there kicking and screaming. Sakura. Sakura would talk. She would talk gently. She would cry. She would be honest, too honest. She would know just what to say to pull at his heartstrings.

He could already see the way her eyes looked hurt. On the edge of tears but he wouldn't falter. He kept one foot in front of another. He was doing this for power, to defeat Itachi, to avenge his clan. This was his path. His density. He couldn't falter from it. Not even for Sakura. Not that he could dare let himself hurt her either. For the others, he wouldn't feel guilty if he had to hit them but Sakura he would. Sasuke wasn't even sure he could do it if he had too.

She wasn't going to move. No, she was standing there like a doe in headlights. Sasuke let himself falter. Stopping in front of her by a few steps. Her eyes weren't at him, they were focused on the bag over his shoulders. Sakura had already figured him out.

"It's the middle of the night," Sasuke stated. She should be in bed, asleep, safe. Not here. Not confronting him like this. Not distracting him even more "What are you hanging around here for?" what had he given away earlier for her to catch him out. What detail was it that she was smart enough to grab at that moment?

"This is the only road out of the village" Sakura returned. The tone to her words had him cracking. His eyes falter first, he felt the muscles of them twitch and hoped she hadn't caught it. Sasuke moved, another step in front of him. Pushing himself away and around her. He couldn't allow her to block him like this he had to keep moving or he wasn't going to get out of this damned village at all.

"You should go to bed," he told her. He kept his voice sounding uncaring. Unphased but he knew what depths those words held to her the moment they left him. If only she would go home. That was all they both needed, for her to forget about it and leave. Sakura could move on, he knew she could. Sasuke couldn't disagree that she was beautiful, no boy could disagree. With that pleasant and kind nature, any man would want to be with her. She didn't need him. She didn't have to care about him. He didn't have to drag her down any further. She deserved something better, she always deserved better.

Sakura didn't speak as he walked past her. Their eyes didn't mean, they both fell. His presence past her and for a single passing second Sakura contemplated listening. Doing as she was asked. Go home, go to bed. Forget him, that was what he was asking her to do. Was to forget about him for good. Tears pricked at her eyes at that realization of what he was asking, how dare he even think she could forget him. A tear let loose, falling down her face.

What did Sasuke seriously think he was doing. Sakura couldn't let him, she couldn't let him make such a mistake. Had he even thought this through? "Why, Sasuke?" her voice broke as she turned around to watch his back as he kept walking. Trying to ignore her "Why won’t you ever tell me anything? Why is it always silence with you? You’ve never shared a single thing -" Her voice gained confidence as she spoke to him willing herself to stand stronger against him. Willing herself to be confident in this one moment she had to be. She had to be confident, she had to save him. No one else would.

"Why should I tell you anything? Just keep your nose out of my business. It’s none of your concern." Sasuke bit back. He had to shut her up. He couldn't let her keep talking, keep grabbing at his heart. Keep snatching at his clothing like a ghost begging at him to stay not when he knew there were tears on her cheek without even looking. Not when he knew she was going to break down in front of him if she didn't go home right now.  _ Just go home Sakura _ his mind begged, at that moment wishing she could read his mind. That chants of being an avenger, of leaving for power, for he had to do this. Were fading by the gently knocking  _ Please go home Sakura I don't want to hurt you.  _

Of everyone. Not her. Never her.

"I know you hate me"  _ It is the exact opposite Sakura that is why I need to do this. _ The way she says it, he can feel a smile on her face. It wasn't that smile he liked, not the overplayed one it was the unconfident embarrassed one was she doubted herself. Sasuke might not have been good at encouragement which Sakura needed more then he knew how to give but she shouldn't doubt her strengths which she did have many of.

Sakura raises her head (he could hear the rustling of her clothes in that sleek red dress she wore) "Even in the beginning you could never stand me.” Sakura starts and maybe that was true. She overplayed everything, she was too much like that blonde one and too much like any of his annoying fangirls. That wasn't the Sakura he liked “Remember? Back when we made genin and we were assigned to our three man squads?" Of course, he could remember, Sakura knew it. Sasuke couldn't bring himself to respond. She had made some dumb comment without even thinking, he really shouldn't have been as mad at her as he had been. Then again maybe he should've, kept her at arm's length from then on. Never let her keep getting closer.

Keep sneaking upon him. With some hugs. Those looks. Those subtle touches. Those  _ Good Morning Sasuke-Kun!.  _ Those every little bit of her. The real her, not the fangirl. She had to go sneak up on him, work her way into his heart. Sakura had him worrying about her, he couldn't even pinpoint the moment when she had carved out a portion of her heart. The moment they started working in sync. In a perfect unit. 

If the team split up it was always them. Because she read him and he read her. She could plan, set up attacks, look past their enemy. He had her back, every single time, he followed her lead and they would switch. They didn't even need to speak in paired missions because they just knew.

Was it maybe in the land of waves? to nearly die? Have her crying over him. Knowing that she would actually grieve for him. Or in the land of snow. When he hadn't felt embarrassed to lay his head in her lap, to close his eyes. Let Sakura comb her hands in his hair. The chunnin exams where she had protected them. Her hug. That hug. Damn it if that had cleared his mind, had let him regain control somehow. Even after Itachi. Sakura had waited right by his bed. She had barely left him for a second. She quited the painful screaming of his mind with mindless chatter that was ever too comforting.

Even if he had been an ass.

"I don’t remember that." Sasuke forced out and Sakura's heart dropped at those words. She snuffled as the tears broke loose again. Sakura shuffled her feet, he didn't mean it. He couldn't have meant it, right? She was trying her best to understand him, he gets to know him not the fangirled idea she had known she wanted to know the real Sasuke she loved. 

As much as his words hurt the more Sakura thinks them over the more she understands why he says them. "Yeah, sure it was so long ago right?" she forgives him. He is trying to escape, trying to run away and trying to force her to go home. Of course, he would pick such a phrase, such a short few words that would sting enough if she let them. 

"But still, that was the day when it all began. It was the start of you and me… and Naruto… and Kakashi-sensei. The four of us started going on missions. It was rough back then, but more than anything, it was so much fun." Sakura replays. The memories fill them both, Sasuke can feel his heart beginning to hurt. Those memories, her tears and her smiles. When he steps back like this and lets himself rethink the memories he can see the way they've grown together. See how much Sakura has changed from the annoying fangirl to someone who truly did understand him.

Them under the stars. He didn't take long before he found Sakura was the easiest to sleep beside. She was calming and comforting. Some nights the nightmares would come back to haunt him. He'd open his eyes in shock and she would be right there next to him. Some nights she would reach out for his wrist when she was feeling confident give him that worried expression he hadn't to see on her. Other nights she wouldn't wake up but her presence was enough.

"I know about your clan Sasuke, I do, but seeking revenge, that won’t bring anyone happiness, not at all. Not you and not me." her words hit him. They hit him hard enough he wanted to growl and bit back at her. He could see the tactic she was using clear as day, he could see the path she was going down. She had a plan, she had one he could already see himself falling victim to if he let himself.

She takes a step towards him. Clouds gather in the sky above them hiding the moon. "I knew it," Sasuke says unaware of his own words at that moment. He needs to run, he can't keep listening to her. "I’m not the same as you and Naruto. I’m travelling path the rest of you can’t follow. I know that the four of us have worked together. For a while, I thought I could take that road instead, but in the end I decided on revenge." Sasuke wanted to scold himself for the bitter tone he used to her. He needed to keep this clear to her, he needed her to stop it. "That's always been my reason for living. I’ll never be like you and Naruto."  _ As much as now other things had wormed there way into his heart making him want to live for that instead.  _ He could stay, protect her. It wouldn't be so bad because it would be Sakura but his clan, his family, he couldn't let them go either.

Sakura launched forward "Don't do this Sasuke!" she tells him on the edge of yelling. If she yells people will come to investigate and he'll get found out. Sakura doesn't give him a moment to speak back as she continues "You don’t have to be alone. You told me that day how painful a thing solitude can be. I understand that pain now. I have family, friends,” then Sakura steps forward. And another. Sasuke can feel her presence coming closer, the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.

"But if you were gone, Sasuke, it would be the same thing for me as being all alone." Sasuke closes his eyes tightly and then they open, softer. He can feel his heart pulling to her, longing. He can feel how his body stiffens from those words. Sakura of all people will have caught it, he always managed to let something slip when it was her. She wouldn't be alone, she was right she would have friends and family. She didn't need him, she never needed him. Or did she-

His heart skips a beat "This is a new beginning." that is his promise of  _ I will come back Sakura. Things don't end here. We can start a new story. If you'll wait. _ He shouldn't think things like that. "Each of us has a new path" he confirms. They do. They will go elsewhere, they will do things and grow. The world will change around them. One day these paths will cross again.

She takes another step. "Sasuke, I’m so in love with you I can’t stand it. If you would stay with me, I promise, I’d never let you regret it. Every day would be a joy. I would give you happiness. I’d do anything for you Sasuke, so please, I’ll do anything just don't walk away. I’ll even help get your revenge. I’ll do anything to make it happen, just stay here with me and if you can’t, take me with you"

His heart was a mess. Had it fallen? or was it racing? Was it still even in his chest at this point. He couldn't dare take her with him, not where she was going. She would not only get in trouble with the leaf and be branded a criminal as well but where he was going wasn't safe. It wasn't happy. It wasn't remotely suitable for her. He couldn't dare let her come along. But maybe he could stay ... maybe he could for her. She would make him happy, she found ways after ways to brighten his days for a moment. Distracting him from the real world. She left him with this warmth, this calmness, this comfort he now doubted if he could escape it.

He lets himself turn around. Lets his eyes rest of her tear-stained face with those big beautiful green eyes broken in pain. He lets that smile touch his features at the possibility he wishes he could take but he can't. "You haven't changed" he starts because she is still her "You're still annoying" but there is no bite, no bitterness, no distaste this time when he speaks. He lets the love sneak into his voice because she is truly annoying, she is the biggest distraction in his life. She finds a way to creep into his heart, turn him into a mess (if only on the inside he couldn't dare lose his composure on the outside). Maybe if things were different he would jump at her words, he would follow her home. Apologies for making her cry.

But avenger can't do that.

Can they.

No. He turns away and forces himself to walk before he can give in.

"No! Don't leave me!' she cries as she races towards him. He can hear the desperation in her voice. The way her steps come to a jagged stop "If- If you do I'll scream" she calls

He can't. In a flash, he is behind her. He allows his composure to falter this way. He'll knock her out. "Sakura," he says in the kindest tone he can find. She is just in front of him, only a quarter of a step if that between them. She surely is like cherry blossom in the spring.

"Thank you for everything" the words are heartfelt from him. They are from his heart. His name moves on its own and Saura is pinning around to grab it. 

For the first time that night, their eyes meet each other properly. He can see the depths of the green in her eyes. The way he has hurt her is clear, it is so damn evidence in her eyes. Raw and painful. His heart stops, that's it that is where he dies seeing how much he could hurt her in only a few moments.

Sasuke's entire body is frozen, his mind repeats to move. Knock her out, keep moving but he can't move. Suddenly Sakura is closer, closer still as her body crashes into his with enough force he has to take two steps back, his arms at her side one grips her dress to catch her. Her arms tighten around his neck and her crying intensifies. "Please Sasuke, Please don't go. Please I can't bare to see you do this to yourself" she begs in his ear. His heart still isn't beating, maybe he is dead. 

Sasuke tries. At least he thinks he does to push her off but she doesn't go. No, she just tightens her hold. "Sakura," he asks her. Like he always does. She would hug him and he would ask her to let go after a few seconds. She would hold a few more then she would let him go.

This time she wouldn't. "Please Sasuke. I can't lose you" she asks. No, she is begging him. The wetness of his shirt and neck, the way her voice breaks he knows it. "You need to go back to bed Sakura," He asks. He tries again with less effort. "No Sasuke. Not unless you're coming home with me" for the first time in a while her voice is firm. Unchanging. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Her fingers were cold when they touched his wrist. It shocked him from his freeze "Sakura-" He started but her hand just grip his wrist tighter. The words were lost from him before he even bothered to try. So instead he admitted defeat to her. Accepted his fate as Sakura moved them away.

He wasn't strong enough to knock her out. He couldn't bring himself to do it in the end. Not even when she had leaned back from him. Instead, it was as if he was caught in a Genjutsu, her eyes were captivating and the pain inflicted on them was crippling to see. He couldn't force himself to look away, he couldn't bring himself to move. 

Sakura had whipped her arm across her face pushing away the tears. By morning her eyes would be swollen and red from all these tears. Her fingers were cold when they touched his wrist. It shocked him from his freeze "Sakura-" He started but her hand just grip his wrist tighter. The words were lost from him before he even bothered to try. So instead he admitted defeat to her. Accepted his fate as Sakura moved them away.

Sakura took charge, she took the lead. He repeated his steps with her by his side. Leading him home, except not to his cold isolated apartment but her home instead. Sasuke couldn't bare to look into those pained eyes any longer. He could barely bring himself to think clearly at what had just transpired between them. He couldn't go back now, that was his chance and he couldn't take it. One could say he should have gone, that Sakura hadn't stopped him but no, in fact, he couldn't not when it was her. Not when she was the one to stop him there. 

Her house was lit up. From where they stood at the foot of the steps he could see her parents through the window. "They'll let you sleep on the couch Sasuke- I know I should let you go home-" Sakura begins and he cuts her off because he already knows where she is going "You don't trust me" he finished. From the corner of his dark eyes behind his bangs, he could see her body stiffen. 

Sakura moved cautiously up the steps. Sasuke dragged his feet after her- What would her parents think to see him at their door. Let alone sleep on the couch. Mebuki yanked open the door in front of them "Sakura! Where have you been it is so late!" she scolds before her eyes spot him. Sasuke avoids her gaze, looks past her and pretends to hold himself stronger then he feels in this moment. "Sasuke .. needs to sleep on the couch tonight. Please, mom?" Sakura asks politely of her mother. Who cannot contain her confusion but something in that moment speaks volumes to her that the women doesn't question her daughter's words. 

"Kizashi, we've got a guest staying on the couch tonight." the women step away from the door letting the two in. Sasuke feels Sakura's burning gaze on him so he takes the first step. It is her way of ensuring he won't turn around and leave now. That much is clear to him. He did as she silently asked, walked forward into the home. It was the warmth of the place that struck him first. He had spent so long living in his own isolated apartment he took little care in. All he did after all was sleep there and eat. It wasn't his home, it was nothing more than his place of residence. Sakura actually had a home, a real home like the one he had longed for since the loss of his clan. She still had loving parents, she still had warmth, she still had a reason to keep staying here.

Sasuke rounded the corner to be greeted by a man he could assume was her father. She didn't seem to share many traits with him that Sasuke could determine from this moment. "A boy huh? Should I ahh- Be concerned for my daughters well being" He said crossing his arms over his chest glaring down to Sasuke? "Kizashi. Not now" her mother said coming in with Sakura. "I'll go get you a blanket. Would you need anything else" she asked as Sakura appeared at his side again. "No. Thank you" Sasuke responded. His body felt tense, he felt annoying awkward at this. To be in her house, her personal space, in front of her parents. Right after he tried to run away from here. 

He was drawn from his thoughts when her father moved around him into the hallway. He could only assume the women behind was summoning him out of the room. Which only left them alone right now. "Would you like tea if I make it Sasuke?" she asked. Sakura was trying to move forward, for once she seemed confident in herself. Sasuke shifted his weight "Hn." he responded taking the moment to glance around her living room. Sakura walked ahead into the family kitchen, it was a simple kitchen. Everything in this house was so simple that he rather liked it. It wasn't like his home, not like his clan's compound. 

"Sasuke-kun" his eyes flashed back to find her directly in front of him. "Tea?" she held the cup before him. Once again she was being awkward, frightened even. His hand move automatically to grab the cup. THen Sakura was moving away from him, his eyes trailed after her. Sasuke hadn't been in someone's house so formally in years now he wasn't even sure how to act at this moment. The only logical thing he can think of it just to sit at the couch with a cup in hand. Sakura copies the movement. They sit in silence.

Complete Silence.

Damn it Sasuke.

Sakura is now at a loss of words which makes this worse. Sakura is always the one (except naruto when he was around) to fill the silence. She was excellent at one-sided conversation. That was normal for their mornings, she would fill the silence with mindless chatter he would listen in to and offer the odd response as he felt too. Now she didn't have anything left to say, no mindless chatter to fill this silence that left him torn. 

"Will you be okay to sleep?" She asks after what feels like a decade of silence between them. "Hn" he offers again because he isn't sure what to say. Would he be alright? "I can stay down here with you," she asks with a touch of hopefulness to her voice. "If you want" he replies unnoticed, in reality, he would like her to stay. Reinforce his decision to stay. Comfort him for his recklessness. "Okay," Sakura sighs. Her hands go white gripping the cup he notices. 

Sasuke is about to speak up sick of this silence when her mother joins them again. "I brought you a blanket young man" she states placing the blanket down on the couches arm. "When are you going to bed Sakura?" her mother asks and Sasuke keeps his mouth shut in their business. "I'm staying down here tonight to keep him company," Sakura says raising herself up with the cup resting on the table between them. He feels the fire spark in her mother - That it seems Sakura shares with her - "What! Excuse me young lady-" her mother begins but Sakura is at her feet surprising Sasuke "Mom! I am staying nowhere. Please!" somehow despite the aggressive tone Sakura uses to challenge her mother she still manages to sound polite. Her mother glares back, goes to argue but Sakura stands her ground.

Sasuke has to respect that if not that he is surprised. Her mother backs down and Sasuke watches her retreating back. Then Sakura as she sits back down. Pushing a smile to her face "Do you want to hear something silly Ino did earlier?" Sakura begins her story of something Sasuke truly couldn't care less about but the fact that Sakura finally speaks, finally fills the silence around them. The edges of his lips tilt upwards. 

" _Thank you Sakura_ " he whispers somewhere between her story although he isn't even sure if she catches it.

But of course, _she does_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not happy with my writing in this one, the chapter is a little slow but I felt like we needed this kind of "Filler" taken directly after the previous chapter. I'd love to hear people thoughts!


End file.
